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Tempe, Calif. – The San José State softball team played a pair of Power-5 teams on Friday, #11/12 Tennessee and Purdue, pushing Tennessee to the brink in game one and pounded the Boilermakers in the second game of the day.

#11/12 Tennessee 7, San José State 6

Down a run in the bottom of the seventh, San José State loaded the bases with two outs and had an opportunity to tie or win on the team’s last at bat. But an inexplicable batters interference call ended the game and the #11/12 Tennessee Volunteers escaped with a 7-6 win.

Brittany Abacherli singled to open the seventh for the Spartans (1-1). Two batters later, Alyssa Avila was hit by a pitch and Kaelin Amrein was intentionally walked. So with the bases loaded, slapper Desiree Reyes fouled off a couple of pitches, and on a 1-2 count she fouled off a third pitch, but this time was called out for making contact outside the batters box.

“It is a shame that the game was taken out of the player’s hands at its most critical point,” head coach Peter Turner said. “The home plate umpire said she was out of the box and, like it or not, sometimes that is the way it goes.”

Down 3-0 after two and a half innings, Reyes led off the bottom of the third with the team’s first hit of the game. It was an infield single, which deflected off the pitcher, and Reyes moved into scoring position on a passed ball. Jenessa Lozano followed Reyes with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Isabel Gonzalez-Velarde. Mackenzie Drake then crushed a shot to left center for the first homer of her college career tying the game at 3-3.

The tie score was short lived.

The Vols (4-0) came right back in the top of the fourth and put up four runs on three hits and an error. None of the runs were earned, but starter Madison Aurin was lifted with two outs for Desiree Severance. Aurin went 3.2 innings giving up seven hits and seven runs, three earned and four walks with two strikeouts. All four of her walks came around to score.

Severance got the last out of the inning and over the next 3.1 innings gave up just one hit.

“Dez was hitting her spots and looked really good despite not having her best stuff,” Turner said. “I was pretty happy with the way Madison threw. Her only issues were the walks, which we’ve talked about with the entire staff. I wanted to get her out of there kind of early because we’ll need her over the next two days.”

In the bottom of the fourth Kaelin Amrein blasted her second homer in as many games, this time a solo shot to left center to close the game to three runs, 7-4.

The score remained 7-4 until the bottom of the sixth.

With one out and Amrein on second and Avila on third, Reyes singled in the Spartans’ fifth run. Pinch hitter Georgia Blair then reached on an error, which allowed Amrein to score and make it 7-6.

“I think after we got over being star struck by Tennessee, we got down to business. I have a lot of confidence in our bats and against top competition and today they did the job. We just came up one short.”

The Spartans scored 11 runs in the second and third innings and defeated the Purdue Boilermakers 11-1 in five innings on day two of the Kajikawa Classic.

“That Tennessee game was a very tough loss, but was I proud of the way we bounced right back,” head coach Peter Turner. “You have to let go of those type of games and focus on the next one. We did that tonight and that’s very important.”

Madison Aurin (2-for-2, R, RBI, HR) led off the bottom of the second with a solo shot to straight away center to get SJSU (2-1) on the board. After a pair of walks and a Kaelin Amrein single the bases were loaded with two outs. Emma Entzminger (1-for-2, R, 3RBI, 3B) cleared the bases with a triple to the gap in right center to make it 4-0 Spartans.

In fourth, SJSU tacked on seven more runs.

With one out and the bases loaded, Kristen Heffley (2-for-2, 2R, 2RBI, 2B) got a two-run single up the middle. That hit resulted in the second of four pitching changes for the Boilermakers (0-2). The next pitcher faired no better.

Alyssa Avila (1-for-2, R, 3RBI, HR) pounded a three-run shot on the fourth pitch she saw to give the Spartans a 9-0 lead. San José State loaded the bases again on a pair of walks and a hit batter. Isabel Gonzalez-Velarde and Amrein (2-for-2, 2R, RBI) then drove in a run each on bases-loaded walks to make it 11-0 after three innings.

In the circle, Caroline Bowman (1-0) scattered three hits and gave up one run, in the top of the fifth, to earn her first collegiate victory. She walked one and struck out three.

In its first three games, the Spartans have scored 33 runs, banged out 29 hits, ten for extra bases, including eight homers and have struck out just nine times.

“We’re seeing the ball and hitting really well right now,” Turner said. “We are a really good hitting team and our pitching is looking good. Honestly, I really like where we are today.”